Michael Scott is a character from a 2005 sitcom, “The Office.” The show is a documentary-style view of the common workplace, filled with humor and in-depth relationships. A lot of people can’t watch after the first few episodes because of how “annoying” and “ignorant” the regional manager, Michael Scott can be. This is actually a very valid feeling to get from Michael in the first season. He tries so hard to like and be the center of attention that it can just be hard to watch sometimes. What a lot of people don’t know is that after the first season Michael’s character develops tremendously. The farther you watch into the series, the more it is easy to feel for Scott.
“Mirrorball” is a Taylor Swift song from the 2020 album “Folklore.” The song is about the feeling of always trying to please others. The reference of the mirrorball is to show how vulnerable and isolated you can be while you are reflecting to people what they want to see. It’s about how no matter how hard this type of person tries, it always feels like it is never enough and they rarely receive the acceptance that they crave.
Michael Scott represents this song to a tee. An example of this is in the infamous “Dinner Party” episode (s3, e13). In the episode, Michael finally gets some of his coworkers, who he had been trying to get to come over for a long time, to come to his dinner party. As the guests arrive he tries so hard to entertain them and starts to get obnoxious. When this happens, his girlfriend repeatedly tears him down and leaves all the guests uncomfortable and they want to leave.
“I’ll get you out on the floor, shimmering beautiful, and when I break, it’s in a million pieces.” This is just one of the many lyrics from “mirrorball” that Michael Scott can relate to. “Café Disco”(s5, e27) is the specific episode that correlates to this lyric. Michael feels that the office is being overworked, so he decides to invite everyone to a room downstairs to drink coffee and have a little dance party. No one from the office joins him except for small exceptions of interactions. This leaves him feeling very defeated, but he decides to try one more time and he tries to play music through the vents to make people want to come down. Surprisingly, this tactic works for one person. She goes down to the party of one and starts dancing with Michael. She eventually dances a bit too hard and blows out her back, causing the other workers to make Michael shut it down. This makes him feel so defeated and depressed, so he sends his receptionist downstairs to shut it down. She goes down with another employee, but they start to enjoy it and they start dancing. People from the building walk by and want to join. Soon, Michael’s idea of Café Disco is a hit and everyone is down partying. This leaves him feeling extremely satisfied in himself, and this is one of the times that Scott succeeds in what he loves to do, which is to please others.
In every episode of the series that Michael Scott is in, he is trying to make people laugh. He wants people to think that he is funny and approachable. Most times he goes too far in his jokes and the employees of the office get annoyed, but all he wants to do is please them. A lyric that pertains to this is, “I’m still trying everything to get you laughing at me, I’m still a believer but I don’t know why, I’ve never been a natural, all I do is try, try, try.” A song depicting the feeling of reflecting back on to people what they want to see, doing everything to make someone happy, and yet still feeling isolated and alone is the perfect way to describe the song “Mirrorball.”
In one episode Michael even says, “Would I rather be feared or loved? Easy. Both. I want people to be afraid of how much they love me.” And that makes Michael Scott the ultimate “Mirrorball” character.
